[Mpls] A serious problem with stopping crime

[Gregory Reinhardt]

MPD arrest procedures are driven by, state law, policies, and finances.  An 
in-depth look at just these factors was requested by the City Council's 
Public Safety and Regulatory Services sub-committee.  Members of the City 
Attorney's Office along with myself and other MPD officers were commissioned 
to present a series of White Papers regarding arrest policy, booking policy 
and fees, chronic offenders, and "payable"  conditions. See documents filed 
under the PS & RS agenda for 4/20/05 Arrest Policy, 5/18/05 Chronic 
Offenders, 6/22/05 Payables, and 7/27/05 Booking Policies and Fees.

Point of clarification:  The people arrested were not burglars.  Burglary is 
felony crime and the behavior is defined by State law, the stated actions of 
these car prowlers does not fit the  criminal behavior labeled as burglary. 
The fact that Mr. David Shegstad made a citizens arrest indicates the 
behaviors of the car prowlers is a misdemeanor criminal violation, and that 
it was not committed in the presence of a licensed police officer.  Although 
familiar with the details of the case, I shall not make comment on them as 
others are tasked with that function.

Although there are merits to arresting misdemeanants and hauling all of them 
off to jail, there are some roadblocks (some morally and justifiably so) to 
doing that.   In short, if the police can identify a misdemeanant, they must 
issue a citation and release the defendant.  A simple fix is to unilaterally 
change State Law, Hennepin County Policies, MPD and City Policies, and 
finances.  Baring that, here  are the "limitations"  that have been alluded 
to:

ARREST POLICIES  Excerpts from PS & RS 4/20/05

The Minneapolis Police Department's arrest  and detention policies are 
governed by state statutes, rules of criminal procedure, and policies of the 
Hennepin County bench. The policies related to arrests are found in the 
Minneapolis Police Department Manual, chapters 8 and 9.

Generally MPD officers make arrests in three circumstances. The first is an 
arrest based on information about a newly committed crime. An example would 
be an arrest for DWI based on an officer seeing a person driving erratically 
and failing field sobriety tests. The officer bases the arrest on personal 
observation and the examination of evidence at the scene.

The second general type of arrest is an arrest for a PC pickup issued by an 
investigator. In these circumstances, the arresting officer may have no 
knowledge of the crime committed, but relies on the pickup order. The pickup 
order  is a statement from an investigator that probable cause exists to 
arrest the named person for a particular crime. PC pickups are generally 
issued only for felony level crimes, although some misdemeanors, like 
domestic violence, can result in a PC pickup under certain circumstances.

Finally, officers also make arrests based on arrest warrants. Warrants are 
issued by the courts and are a court order to arrest a named subject and 
deliver that subject to the court. Warrants are issued against persons 
charged with a crime (for failure to appear in court for example), and 
against people already convicted of  a crime (for violations of probation or 
parole). Warrants can be issued for misdemeanor, gross misdemeanor, and 
felony crimes, and can be issued by both state and federal courts.


I.   MISDEMEANOR ARRESTS LIMITATIONS

A person first enters the criminal justice system through a variety of 
means. The most common means are through arrest, citation, or tab charge by 
a police officer. Pursuant to Minn. R. Crim. P. 6.01, police officers must 
issue citations to persons subject to lawful arrest for misdemeanors unless 
it reasonably appears to  the officer that arrest or detention is necessary 
to prevent bodily harm to the accused or another or further criminal 
conduct, or that there is a substantial likelihood that the  person will 
fail to respond to a citation. In addition, pursuant to Minn. Stat. section 
629.24, a police officer may not arrest someone for a misdemeanor offense 
unless the officer personally observes the person commit, or attempt to 
commit the offense. Police officers exercise discretion, within the 
constraints of Rule 6.01 and Minn. Stat. § 629.34 in determining whether to 
make an arrest or whether to issue a citation.


II.   COURT APPROVED BAIL SCHEDULE

Several years ago, because of serious over-crowding in the old jail, the 
practice developed that the Sheriff released all misdemeanor arrestees with 
"no bail required" (NBR). There is no longer a need for this practice, which 
has contributed to bad policy in the area of arrest, detention,   and 
release   (the   "revolving   door"   problem).   A   committee   comprised 
of representatives from the Sheriff, Court, City Attorney, Probation, and 
Public Defender met for several  months  to  gather  and  review  data, 
discuss  alternatives,  and  recommend  new procedures. Based on these 
discussions the following improvements to  pretrial detention policies were 
implemented effective April 4, 2005:

 Pursuant to Minn. R. Crim. P. 6.01, law enforcement officers may "book" a 
defendant into the public safety facility on a misdemeanor charge only when 
"it reasonably appears that detention is necessary to prevent bodily harm to 
the accused or another or further criminal conduct, or that there is a 
substantial likelihood that the accused will fail to respond to a citation." 
The public safety facility requires all law enforcement officers to complete 
a form at the public safety facility stating in detail the Rule 6.01 reasons 
supporting the officer's decision to detain.

 In addition, the Minneapolis Police Department has implemented a policy 
that requires arresting officers to obtain supervisor approval before all 
misdemeanor bookings.

All persons booked into the public safety facility have bail amounts imposed 
according to the attached bail schedule.  Unless a person posts bail or is 
eligible for release by the Hennepin County pre-trial release unit, he or 
she is held at the public safety facility until his or her in-custody 
arraignment court appearance. The only exception to this policy is a 
situation where the Sheriff determines that release is medically necessary. 
In that situation, the sheriff may give the person notice of any scheduled 
court appearance date and release the defendant to the Hennepin County 
Medical Center for treatment or medical intervention at the discretion of 
the sheriff without bail. If the person posts  bail or is released by the 
pretrial release unit, the public safety facility schedules the person's 
arraignment and provides the person a written reminder of his or her 
arraignment court date.

 In the absence of a Rule 6.01 reason to book, a Minneapolis Police officer 
who is unable to confirm a misdemeanor defendant's identify at the scene 
will transport the defendant to the First Precinct police station's new 
identification unit, supported by the First Precinct desk staff. Once the 
defendant is properly identified the police officer will issue the defendant 
a citation which contains a court date. In addition, the Minneapolis Police 
Department plans to increase the use of IBIS portables in the field.


III. SPECIFIC ARREST POLICIES

Misdemeanor arrest policies are detailed in section 9-103 of the department 
manual. Officers have wide discretion in making  arrests for misdemeanors, 
and  supervisory approval is not needed in most cases. Generally misdemeanor 
violators are issued a citation in lieu of booking into jail and released. 
The policy details the exceptions that permit a jail booking, as described 
below.


9-103 MISDEMEANOR ARRESTS - ADULTS (05/29/02) (09/16/04)

Adult misdemeanor violators shall be issued citations in lieu of arrest 
unless the officer believes that one of the following circumstances exists:
 To prevent bodily harm to the accused or another;   To prevent further 
criminal conduct; There is a substantial likelihood that the accused will 
fail to respond to a citation;  The officer has found that the accused has 
an outstanding warrant.

The officer must be able to articulate to the court and in the CAPRS arrest 
report the reason(s) why it was necessary to arrest a person rather than 
issuing a citation.

To assist officers in identifying persons with no ID, the 1st Precinct 
operates an identification center. Arresting officers may bring an arrested 
party to the 1st Pct where officers will make an effort to identify them 
from computer records or other means, then issue a citation or court date 
and release them.